In Boats

"If you believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing, half so worth doing as - simply messing around in boats!"

Venice.

Tried to get lost yesterday and ended up at the Accademia, the most famous museum in the city. Went in and was sorely disappointed. Perhaps it was just an anti-climax after Florence and Rome, but... there was no there there.

This took the wind out my sails right quick. I had been planning yet another 3 day blitzkrieg of churches and museums. Instead, I just rode around in boats all morning. On Colin's excellent advice, I bought a three day pass to the Vaporetto - the water taxis/ferries. Worth every penny. Eventually, I ended up dismounting near the Peggy Guggenheim palazzo, so I ducked inside. Fantastic!

Well, the permanent collection was mostly underwhelming - off-peak work from top tier artists - but the temporary exhibit was a selection of American painting from the Addison Gallery, a museum associated with Phillips Academy/Andover. There were a number of pieces I found fascinating, but Winslow Homer's West Wind was mindblowing. I am suddenly much more interested in his work.

Although this trip has been all about art (basically), I've eschewed trying to talk about art much. Its very hard to do well. Perhaps I should include more illustrations in my posts, but photos of paintings are terrible, especially on the web. The quality I found most striking in this Homer - his brushwork - would not survive in a photo or reproduction.

As in Rome, finding good food was nearly impossible in Venice. I had plenty of worthy recommendations, but finding anything in Venice - even with a street address - is beyond me. On the upside, I enjoyed getting off the beaten path and finding some joints for locals.

As usual, much graffiti was seen: